Sunday, March 9, 2014

Minority and Special Education Students
are Disproportionately Suspended and Expelled across ALL Maryland Counties from
2009-2012 …

There ARE Solutions !!!

Dear Colleague,

I hope
you have been well and productive during the past two weeks. As for me,
I've spent most of my time in the field-- helping students, staff, and schools
to work smarter and more successfully.

And
throughout my travels, I am constant struck by the reality that schools and
districts typically do not go out of their way to be ineffective. . .

. . .they simply do what they know, and

don't know what they don't know.

Indeed,
schools are often prone to "jump on the bandwagon" of the "next
new educational program, innovation, or miracle solution." But these
approaches typically have not been validated across multiple settings,
situations, circumstances, and communities.

As this
plays out, schools often end up implementing things in good faith,
without recognizing that they involve bad practice.

And then,
they start all over again with the "next innovation". . .often
wasting time, money, and effort-- and increasing staff and student frustration
and resistance.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Today's
Focus-- Yet Another State on our Nation's "Disproportionality
List"

This
week, a major study was released by the Regional Educational Laboratory
Mid-Atlantic analyzing Maryland Department of Education student discipline data
for 2009-10, 2010-11, and 2011-12.

The study
looked at K-12 data from every school district in the state, and
investigated the presence of disproportionate referral rates for racial/ethnic
minority and special education students.

This report adds yet another state to a cross-country list where we can only
conclude that the disproportionate number of minority and special education
students being suspended and expelled from school is a national crisis.

Indeed, the
Maryland study found that during the three school years studied:

* Students receiving
out-of-school suspensions or expulsions dropped from 5.6% in 2009-10 to 5.0% in
2011-12.

* Because suspensions
and expulsions decreased more rapidly for White than Black students,
disproportionality increased in 2011-12, the most recent year examined.

* For the same type of
infraction, Black students had higher rates of out-of-school suspension or
expulsion than did Hispanic and White students.

* In all 24 Maryland
school systems, Black students received out-of-school suspension or expulsion
at more than twice the rate of White students.

* Statewide, students
in special education were removed from school at more than twice the rate of
other students.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_

And so, once again, there is clear documentation across our country that:

Reactive,
punishment-oriented, and zero tolerance programs do not work,

What
schools are doing in the areas of school discipline, classroom management,
and student self-management also is not working, and

We need
to rethink our approach to "school discipline" using more
proactive, field-tested, and outcome-based approaches.

Parenthetically, all of this also suggests that the $100+ million invested by
the U.S. Department of Education in its Positive Behavioral Interventions and
Supports (PBIS) and multi-tiered (RtI) frameworks-- since 1997-- similarly have
not worked.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_

There
ARE Well-Documented Solutions

Disproportionality-- as well as school safety, teasing and bullying, student
engagement, school truancy, student drop-out, and related social, emotional,
and behavioral issues-- will only be addressed through prevention and
intervention-- as opposed to a primary focus on eliminating (or punishing)
"the problem."

Indeed,
we often ask administrators, "Will the office referral, suspension or
expulsion, or placement into an alternative program change the student's
behavior?" Typically, the answer is, "No." And
so, it must be recognized that the student suspension or expulsion, for
example, really is an administrative response and not a strategic intervention.

In order
to shift toward prevention and intervention, districts and schools need
to:

*
Focus on teaching and reinforcing students' interpersonal, social problem
solving, conflict prevention and resolution, and emotional coping skills from
preschool through high school.

*
Do this by implementing a systematic "Health, Mental Health, and
Wellness" curriculum (to complement your literacy, math, science, and
other curricula).

*
"Job embed" the skills above into the classroom and academic
program-- teaching and reinforcing students for interacting successfully (a) on
an individual level, (b) in cooperative and other instructional groups and lab
experiences, and (c) within their classrooms, at their grade levels, and across
the school.

*
Create a continuum of services, supports, strategies, and/or programs for
students (with disabilities, mental health issues, or who are just emotionally
or behaviorally struggling) that are implemented through an effective Student
Assistance Team process.

*
Plan, implement, and evaluate these approaches every year as part of the
school and district's strategic planning and School Improvement Plan processes.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

NEW Planning and Implementation Guidebook

For
almost 30 years and across the country, we have been helping schools and
districts with approaches that-- when implemented correctly and in a sustained
way-- have successfully improved school climate and safety, classroom
management and engagement, and students' prosocial and academic outcomes.

These
approaches are embedded in the school improvement, PBIS, and multi-tiered
process that we have used-- over the past decade-- with the Arkansas Department
of Education through its State Improvement/Personnel Development Grant
(SIG/SPDG).

Critically, however, our approaches significantly differ from those
advocated by the U.S. Department of Education and Office of Special Education
Programs.

To help
you understand these evidence-based approaches, we hope you will download the
free updated (February, 2014) Positive Behavioral Support System
Implementation Guidebook that is available to you.

The Components of an Effective
Positive Behavioral Support System (PBSS)

A Step-by-Step PBSS Implementation
Blueprint

Professional Development Approaches
and Resources

Evaluation and Outcomes

Appendices

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

We are often told, "If it ain't broke, don't fix
it." But critically, we also are counseled, "If you keep on
doing the same things, don't expect different results."

Our approaches to disproportionality are not working. And
so, we need to think about how to do things differently.

I hope that this new report about Maryland will motivate you to
look at your own state, district, or school to identify what is working, and
what is not working. I also hope you will look the resource above (and
elsewhere in this e-mail) to see if they might help guide you to re-think what
is not working-- on behalf of all students, but especially those minority and
special education students who need different approaches in order to be
successful.

Saturday, March 1, 2014

A Three-Year Positive Behavioral Support
Implementation Blueprint, and Two Upcoming Federal Grants to Pay for
It

Dear Colleagues,

With Spring Training starting this week in Florida
and Arizona, the weather--hopefully--will begin (continue) to warm up soon.

Last week, I attended and presented a workshop at the annual
convention of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) in
Washington, DC. My presentation was titled, Rethinking PBS and
RtI: Essential Changes Needed to Improve Services, and I discussed
numerous strategies and approaches that go well beyond those recommended by the
U.S. Department of Education's various Technical Assistance (TA) Centers in
these, and other school improvement, areas.

We strongly recommend that you review these evidence-based school
improvement, positive behavioral support, and response-to-intervention
approaches. Critically, the U.S. Department of Education typically
publicizes only the approaches that it has funded. Thus, in order to be
"good consumers," you need to research and evaluate the many other
effective programs and approaches that are available--choosing those that will
best help you meet your student, staff, and school needs.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

This Week's Topic: Effective
Practices that Address the Department of Education's Recent School Discipline
Guidelines. . . . and Two Upcoming Grants to Fund Them

Last
month, the U.S. Department of Education (DoE), in collaboration with the U.S.
Department of Justice, released a school discipline guidance package (CLICK HERE) to assist states,
districts and schools in developing practices and strategies to enhance school
climate, and ensure that these policies and practices comply with federal
law. Some of the outcomes targeted school climate, decreasing suspensions
and expulsions, and addressing the disproportionate representation of
minorities relative to school discipline.

The DoE
identified three guiding principles for policymakers, district officials,
school leaders, and stakeholders to consider as they work to improve school
climate and discipline:

This new 100+ page resource can help your
school or district address all of the goals in the DoE's new school discipline
initiative. The multi-tiered process described has been implemented
nationwide--in urban, suburban, and rural schools. The Guidebook has the
following sections:

Project ACHIEVE's Positive
Behavioral Support System (PBSS)

A Step-by-Step PBSS Implementation
Blueprint

Professional Development Approaches
and Resources

Evaluation and Outcomes

Appendices

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

... An Upcoming Grant. . . or
Two

Now that
the federal budget has been passed by Congress (last month), the DoE is
beginning to post upcoming grants that will soon be available to states,
districts, and schools.

One
grant, The
Elementary and Secondary School Counseling grant will be
available on March 18th and due on May 2nd. In the past, this grant has
funded school-wide positive behavioral support initiatives, as well as training
in and services for students with social, emotional, and behavioral challenges.

A second grant, The
School Climate Transformation grant will be available on April
30th and due on June 13th. This is a new grant, and it appears to be directly
related to the federal school discipline guidelines discussed above.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Meanwhile, as always, please feel free to share these and other materials that
you find on the Project ACHIEVE website with your colleagues, education and
community leaders, and parents across your district or state.

Connecting with Howie

Follow by Email

About Me

Howard M. Knoff, Ph.D. is the creator and Director of Project ACHIEVE.After 22 years as a university professor and over 12 years as a federal grant director for a state department of education, he continues his national work as a full-time national consultant, author, and presenter.

Dr. Knoff is recognized nationwide as an expert in the following areas:

·School Improvement and
Turn-Around, Strategic Planning and Organizational Development

·Differentiated Academic
Instruction and Academic Interventions for Struggling Students

·Social, Emotional, and
Behavioral Instruction and Strategic and Intensive Interventions for Challenging
Students

·Multi-tiered (RtI)
Services, Supports, and Program

·Effective Professional
Development and On-Site Consultation and Technical Assistance

From 2003 through 2015, he was the Director of the federally-funded State Improvement Grant (SIG; 2003-2009) which then became the State Personnel Development Grant (SPDG; 2009-2015) for the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE). These grants funded the state-wide scale-up of Project ACHIEVE--especially its school improvement, positive behavioral support, and multi-tiered RtI service system components. Through the ADE's Elementary and Secondary Education Act flexibility process, Project ACHIEVE was the state's school improvement model for all Focus schools.

Prior to that, Dr. Knoff was a Professor of School Psychology at the University of South Florida (USF, Tampa, FL) for 18 years, and Director of its School Psychology Program for 12 years. He also was the creator and Director of the Institute for School Reform, Integrated Services, and Child Mental Health and Educational Policy at USF, and was instrumental in leading the program to the accreditation of its doctoral program by the American Psychological Association.

Project ACHIEVE is a nationally-recognized school
effectiveness/school improvement program that has been designated a National
Model Prevention Program by the U. S. Department of Health & Human
Service’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
(SAMHSA).Over the past 30 years, Howie
has implemented Project ACHIEVE components in thousands of schools or school
districts—training in every state in the country.He has also been awarded over $21 million in
federal, state, or foundation grants for this work, and recently received two
School Climate Transformation grants and one Elementary and Secondary
Counseling grant from the federal government to support work in Pennsylvania,
Michigan, and Kentucky.

Dr. Knoff received his Ph.D. degree from
Syracuse University in 1980, and has worked as a practitioner, consultant,
licensed private psychologist, and university professor since 1978.Dr. Knoff is widely respected for his
research and writing on school reform and organizational change, consultation
and intervention processes, social skills and behavior management training,
Response-to-Intervention, and professional issues.

He has authored or co-authored 18 books,
published over 100 articles and book chapters, and delivered over 1,000 papers
and workshops nationally—including the Stop & Think Social Skills
Program (preschool through middle school editions) and the Stop &
Think Parent Book:A Guide to Children’s
Good Behavior through Cambium Learning/Sopris West Publishers and Project
ACHIEVE Press, respectively.

Dr. Knoff has a long history of working
with schools, districts, and community and state agencies and
organizations.For example, he has consulted with a number of state departments of
education, the Department of Defense Dependents School District during Desert
Storm in 1991, and the Southern Poverty Law Center.He has also served as an expert witness in
federal court five times, in addition to working on many other state and local
cases—largely for legal advocacy firms who are representing special education
and other students in need.

Specific to
school safety issues, Dr. Knoff was on the writing team that helped produce Early
Warning, Timely Response:A Guide to
Safe Schools, the document commissioned by President Clinton that was sent
to every school in the country in the Fall of 1998; and he participated in a
review capacity on the follow-up document, Safeguarding our Children: An
Action Guide.

A recipient of the Lightner Witmer Award
from the American Psychological Association's School Psychology Division for
early career contributions in 1990, and over $21 million in external grants
during his career, Dr. Knoff is a Fellow
of the American Psychological Association (School Psychology Division), a Nationally
Certified School Psychologist, a Licensed Psychologist in Arkansas, and he has
been trained in both crisis intervention and mediation processes.Frequently
interviewed in all areas of the media, Dr. Knoff has been on the NBC Nightly
News, numerous television and radio talk shows, and he was highlighted on an
ABC News' 20/20 program on "Being Teased, Taunted, and
Bullied."

Finally, Dr. Knoff was the 21st President of the National Association of
School Psychologists which now represents more than 25,000 school psychologists
nationwide. He is constantly sought after for his expertise in a wide variety of school,
psychological, and other professional issues. You can e-mail him at: knoffprojectachieve@earthlink.net